What's a taster?

[domainer700]

Hello,

I've heard the term being used here and am curious to know what it means. I think it means someone who registers domains for the purpose of seeing if the name is good or not. This would mean if it's not a good name he/she would return it somehow which brings me to another question: how do they do that if registrars or resellers of domains don't offer refunds on domain name registrations?

Thank you.

 

[NLP]

Hi, Domainer700. Most registrars allow what is called a "grace delete," which is a cancellation on the name, if it's within 5 days of when you registered it. This is mostly on a case-by-case basis and not be used in bulk, but for instance, if you accidentally register a typo or impulsively buy a domain you later regret, you can cancel it.

I'd recommend checking with your registrar about their rules, but most of them require you to log into your account, cancel the domain from your control panel, and THEN call them to process the refund. Just canceling the domain isn't enough - and the 5 days are timed pretty much down to the second. So if you're sure you want to get rid of the name, it's in your best interest to cancel as soon as possible.

You've got the definition of domain tasting correct, as far as I can tell. It's something people used to do to check the traffic a domain was receiving. People probably still do it to a degree.

 

[Sparhawke]

In earlier days of the internet people were tasting thousands of domains a day in order to pick out those that got type in traffic and subsequently advert clicks, in effect it was abused on a monumental scale and now registrars are far stricter on what they will allow to be grace deleted.

Here is more information on it

http://www.circleid.com/posts/historical_analysis_domain_tasting/

 

[Erdy]

Domain tasting is now history. In the past registrars could taste unlimited domains. For instance if you register 1 million domains and pay 8 million USD you would get all your money back when you cancel those registrations. The domains being tasted at any given time were more then 1 million domains. If I remember correctly about 3 million domains were tasted at on average at any given time.

But then icann decided to limit the tasted domains to 10% of total registered domains.

In other words, you can forget about tasting. There are no more tasters.

 

[Kate]

In some extensions you can still do tasting, within certain limits.
It all depends on the policies of the respective registries.
For example, in .us there are no caps.

 

[domainer700]

Thanks... I appreciate all the answers.